Opinion

I’ll start off this week giving props to magistrate and judge-executive candidate John Wayne Conway for largely backing off on his initial reaction to one of his opponents admitting that a county worker sprayed weed killer after his certification to do so had expired.

On the surface the incident could have been remarkably serious. Chemicals being sprayed by those who have no idea what they are doing is never a good thing. But keep in mind, the worker who sprayed them was previously certified and had used this chemical for years.

We have a new resident in our city who follows the teachings of Jesus and makes herself available to help many of the elderly in gracious ways. We should all welcome Pam Walker. She has been a teacher in the public school system for over 30 years, but still allows time for many Christian endeavors. Thanks for one more good person in this modern day.

Well, August always has been a hot month. Just keep repeating to yourself, “It’s better than an ice storm.” It also helps to remember that there was a time without air conditioning. Many of us remember when we only had a box fan in the window to keep us cool. Now days, we run the AC and complain about the bill.

The University of Kentucky’s football team made headlines last week for all the right reasons.

According to reports from several media outlets, 30 members of the team helped the Christian Appalachian Project load supplies Thursday into trucks that would travel to Pike County, an area hit hard by flooding last month.

At least one report said 50 team members signed up to participate, but the project could only accommodate 30.

On its website, www.christianapp.org, the project confirms it received some help from some very eager team members.

I took a trip up to Indiana last week. It’s just a day trip, albeit a long one. Going up, I drove through a gully washer. I’ve been through a lot of gully washers in my life but this was the mother of all gully washers that hit just before I got on Interstate 465. Thankfully, there wasn’t too much traffic at that time of day, but as usual, it was undergoing some construction.

Given the contents of last week’s column about the pending trial of the woman suing the county on sexual harassment and other assorted vile allegations, it’s good to know the judge-executive has retained what I guess is a sense of humor.

Or at least is planning for his future when he leaves office at the end of this year.

When I showed up for work Monday morning, one of my coworkers brought me my mail including an envelope the judge had mailed from his home on Powell Taylor Road. It even had one of those ready-made return address stickers with his name on it.

I read the editorial in the July 31 issue of The Anderson News about the blessings of the bourbon to Anderson County. In reference to those who go to church and don’t drink being hypocrites, most of those that I know are not perfect but are not hypocrites. They just believe what the word of God says about strong drink. I know many hypocrites in other phases of life, perhaps there are some in the news media.

Large women, gays, animal lovers and anyone with a reasonable sense of decency will likely feel like showering the next time they visit the judge-executive’s office on Main Street.

Who could blame them?

That office is where county employees have admitted in sworn depositions that they shared e-mails containing slurs against gays, pornographic videos featuring large women and stories about their private sex lives. This was done on county-owned computer equipment while you, the taxpayer, paid their salaries.

I know the heat index has been high, but haven’t the sunsets been beautiful? I love to watch the “spin out” in the evenings, after a long day. The streaks of rose red, inset among the blue sky, and wispy white clouds is a masterpiece to behold. It just makes you want to say thank you, even if you are sweating bullets.

Four years ago, I made my first trip to Anderson County as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed intern ready to take on the world of journalism.

Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise that during my 10-week internship, I fell in love with a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, teeny, tiny kitten whose face I first saw as a featured pet of the Anderson Humane Society in an issue of our paper.

Staring at those scared little eyes through the newsprint, I knew this kitten had to be mine.

Bet you didn’t know that money from the sale of bourbon will help buy your child or grandchild’s textbooks this coming school year.

It will also help feed them, pay their teachers, put fuel in their buses and keep their classrooms warm on cold days.

Yep, those awful, evil distilleries that pollute our souls with their wicked brew are without question our public school system’s greatest benefactors, and there’s not a thing you anti-alcohol types can do about it.

I hail from little Crozet, Va., just outside of Charlottesville, Va., at the foot of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

I came to Kentucky to get a journalism degree at the University of Kentucky and have enjoyed the experience along the way. After being awarded the opportunity to intern here at The Anderson News I was really excited, but also quite nervous.

After all, I was going to be spending my first summer away from my home in Virginia, I was going to be working in a foreign town, and I didn’t want to mess anything up.

At a special called meeting last week, the Anderson County Board of Education selected the location at which it will build a new Early Childhood Center — and we couldn’t be happier with its choice.

Actually, either of the locations the board was considering would have made us giddy.

The location the board has chosen is a plot of land between the district’s central office and Emma B. Ward Elementary School. The runner-up in the contest was a plot of land on the Robert B. Turner Elementary School campus.

I’m smiling. As I write, it’s Thursday night and I’m listening to thunder boomers and a nice steady rain. It’s been two weeks of dry, hot weather and hand watering to keep things alive. You can almost hear the earth sighing with relief. Some native plants, that are our most hardy lawn weeds, were even curling up.